Cop Poses As Pupil, Nabs Five For Drugs

During his five weeks at Lake Worth High School, Jay Howard cut classes, flunked tests and spent hours in the school detention center. But to Principal Dave Cantley, Howard was an A student.

On Wednesday, Howard flashed a badge and arrested five of his classmates on drug-dealing charges, then went back to being a police officer.

``He didn`t do much academically and he got into trouble a couple of times,`` said Cantley. ``But I think that was all part of the plan. He fit right in with the crowd and sniffed out the drug dealers.``

Cantley said he asked Lake Worth police last year to plant an undercover agent in his school.

``We knew drugs were being sold in the school, and we wanted to put a stop to as much of it as we could,`` Cantley said.

On Jan. 6, police began Operation Trojan Horse, an undercover investigation named after the school mascot.

The agent was a 22-year-old graduate of the police academy at Palm Beach Junior College. He enrolled as a high school senior under the assumed name of Jay Howard. Cantley said that besides himself, only a guidance counselor and security investigator knew about the phony student. Teachers were not informed of the operation.

Howard, who asked that his real name not be used, said he developed a ``bad guy`` reputation to gain the confidence of drug dealers.

``I wanted to play the burnout role,`` he said. ``I cut classes so I could meet people to buy drugs and I deliberately failed my tests.``

Howard said it was easy to meet drug dealers at school.

``I asked around,`` he said. ``I had no trouble finding them. I`d sit down with them at lunchtime and meet them later to buy drugs.``

Using money supplied from the Lake Worth police evidence room, Howard bought cocaine ``rocks`` for $25 each and various qualities of marijuana. Instead of using the drugs, Howard met with his supervisor, Lt. Jim Erikson, and tested them to determine whether they were genuine.

``Then I wrote up my report and went home and did my homework,`` he said.

Howard said the operation was so secret that he had to avoid friends and public places, such as the beach.

``My wife was the only one who knew,`` he said. ``She was my main company.``

Howard, who grew up near Detroit and graduated from high school in 1983, told classmates that he had been in trouble in Michigan and that a judge sent him to Florida to live with his mother.

Fellow students were surprised when police and school security investigators arrested the students early Wednesday. But at school, where police dogs routinely sniff lockers for drugs, there appeared to be little opposition to the use of an undercover agent on campus.

``I don`t have any problem with it,`` said senior Jim Kelly. ``I have a big problem with the drugs being on campus in the first place. He`s there because the drugs are there.``

Kelly said that few of his classmates were disturbed upon learning of Howard`s undercover mission, and that he heard no backlash.

Senior Scott Zappolo said it was sad that administrators had to resort to such measures, but he accepted it.

``They shouldn`t have to put undercover police in our school,`` he said. ``But I`m for it if it clears up the problem.``

Students arrested at the school Wednesday included an adult and two juveniles. Two more juveniles were already confined in the juvenile detention center on other charges when the new counts were filed.

Henry Banks, 18, of South K Street, was charged with two counts of selling marijuana and one count of selling cocaine and sent to the County Jail. Two 15-year-olds, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were also charged with selling marijuana or cocaine. The juveniles were sent to the county juvenile detention center.

Operation Trojan Horse was not the first time police in Palm Beach County have planted an agent in a school. Last year, a 19-year-old Riviera Beach officer helped arrest about 20 Suncoast High School students on drug charges after a three-month investigtion.

Howard said that with more time, he could have fingered at least two more dealers. But he said his cover started wearing thin during his last week in school.

``My identity was blown,`` he said. ``People started asking me if I was a cop.``

Lt. Erikson called the operation a success, but said it also indicated that the drug problem at Lake Worth High is not as widespread as some suspected. That assessment was good news to Cantley, who said he would continue to target drug dealing at the school.

Cantley suspended the five arrested students for 10 days, the maximum penalty he can give, and will recommend that the county superintendent extend the suspension to 30 days. He said it is likely that all or some of the students will be expelled.

``We want to get the message out that this could happen again at any time and that students should be on their guard,`` he said. ``We`re going to fight fire with fire.``